CASTLE SCRIPT: SNAKEBIT
EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS – EARLY
MORNING
It
is early morning. The sun has just come up and there is a slight chill in the
air. The camera gazes up at the morning sky before tilting to the concrete. The
camera tracks along the concrete until it comes across an iPod lying on the
ground, ear buds outstretched. The camera tracks across the iPod until it comes
across a thermos carelessly dropped. As the camera slowly pedestals up, it
reveals fingers and a hand dangling down from the bench. As it continues to
pedestal up it comes across a girl lying on the bench, we are unsure if she is
alive or dead at this point. The camera tracks across her body and stops on her
face where we can see she is not living.
INT. TWELFTH PRECINCT (HFU
BASEMENT) – EARLY MORNING
Here
the camera quickly tilts up to reveal CASTLE and BECKETT sitting at her desk
talking. RYAN and ESPOSITO are sitting together talking, but we cannot see them
yet. CPT. GATES is in her office, also off-screen
CASTLE
All I’m saying is you could loosen up, let
your hair down, drop your top, little “Cops Gone Wild.”
BECKETT
(Stern
look)
Castle, enough.
(Phone
rings)
You are too much work as it is to go wild.
(Answering phone)
Beckett.
CASTLE
(Shrugging,
to himself)
I don’t think I’m that much work.
BECKETT
Okay, we got one on a college campus, let’s
go.
(To
Ryan and Esposito, off-screen)
Ryan,
Espo, you guys coming?
RYAN
Yep
ESPOSITO
College campus? With college girls? Hell yes.
CPT.
GATES
(Looking
over her glasses)
No you two are staying here we have too many
murders and not enough detectives, now get working.
ESPOSITO and RYAN look
disappointed, ESPOSITO more so. The camera reverses to show CASTLE and BECKETT
getting on the elevator.
EXT.
COLLEGE CAMPUS – EARLY MORNING
The camera dollies backward as
CASTLE and BECKETT approach the crime scene. LANIE is with the body, but cannot
yet be seen by us. CASTLE and BECKETT appear to be talking, but we cannot hear
what they are saying until they get close to the body
CASTLE
All I’m saying is if there was interplanetary
space travel I would be the captain of my own ship.
BECKETT
Yep, I’m sure Castle. What do we have Lanie?
The camera turns to show LANIE
standing next to the body. She looks up at BECKETT
PERLMUTTER
Goodmorning Detective Beckett… and Defective
Castle.
CASTLE
Ah Perlmutter, cheerful as ever.
PERLMUTTER
Always cheerful standing over a body at 7 in
the morning. Nicole Marie, 21. She’s a student. It’s not a mugging, There are
no GSWs, ligature marks, or puncture wounds that are recent. From temperature
and lividity I’m putting the time of death around three this morning. I won’t
know what killed her till I get her back to the slab, but it’s a safe guess it
was poison.
BECKETT
You said there were old puncture wounds,
could it be an OD?
PERLMUTTER
No. There aren’t any of the telltale signs
from non-injected drugs, but I’ll check when I get her back.
BECKETT
Alright, thanks Perlmutter. Let me know.
CASTLE
Why would someone kill a college student and
then just leave her here? Unless the killer knew she was into drugs and assumed
that’s what it would get written off as an OD.
BECKETT
So our killer has to be someone who knew the
victim well enough to know she had a drug problem, and most likely he or she
had a problem with her.
CASTLE
Well it had to be a big problem. You don’t
poison someone over something little.
BECKETT
It could be anything Castle. She could’ve
cheated with someone’s boyfriend or owed money to someone.
CASTLE
Cheating? That’s too boring. And to owe
someone money, there are better ways of getting revenge than poisoning,
especially if you want the money back.
BECKETT
Let’s just see where the investigation takes
us. We’re going to talk to the guy that found her.
CASTLE
Who.
BECKETT
What?
CASTLE
You said the guy ‘that’ found her, it should
be ‘who’.
BECKETT
Focus Castle.
CASTLE
There’s already been one murder, we don’t
need the English language to be a second
BECKETT
(Glaring
at CASTLE)
Come’on
INT.
JASON VELENO’S OFFICE (PR) – MORNING
JASON VELENO is sitting at his
desk when CASTLE and BECKETT walk in. He looks up then back down at his papers
before standing to greet them.
JASON
Terrible situation, a PR nightmare.
CASTLE
Yeah must be pretty bad for the dead girl too
JASON
You have to understand, this is a small
school. Something like this… well it’s chaos and emotions can’t come into it
right now.
BECKETT
Mr. Veleno, I understand you found the
victim, did you know her?
JASON
I had seen her before, passed out on that
same bench. But today was different, the iPod on the ground, the thermos, and
the way she was laying, I knew something wasn’t right.
BECKETT
And what time did you find her?
JASON
I was just coming in, so around six.
CASTLE
Did you notice anything else out of the ordinary?
BECKETT
Anything at all that you’ve seen or heard?
JASON
No, not that I can remember. Like I said, it
wasn’t uncommon for her to be passed out there.
CASTLE
Mr. Veleno, if she was passed out there all
of the time, how come you never did anything about it?
JASON
Look, I’m PR not security. I handle the
aftermath of it, not the prevention or punishment of it.
BECKETT
Thanks for your time
CASTLE nods at JASON and leaves
the room with BECKETT.
INT.
HALLWAY – MORNING
CASTLE and BECKETT are having a
conversation about the interview that just took place. CASTLE looks speculative
and BECKETT has a straight face as she checks her phone.
CASTLE
Well that wasn’t helpful.
BECKETT
Nope, it wasn’t. We tracked down her
boyfriend through her MyFace account. Unis are in his house, maybe he can shed
some light on the situation.
INT.
INTERROGATION ROOM – MID-DAY
CASTLE and BECKETT are in the
interrogation room with NICOLE’S boyfriend, JOHNNY LEE. JOHNNY is sitting at
the table while both CASTLE and BECKETT stand. JOHNNY has an Australian accent.
JOHNNY
I didn’t kill ‘er.
CASTLE
Woah, slow down Johnny. Guilty conscience or perhaps
you were expecting us.
BECKETT
You’ve got quite a rap sheet Johnny.
Aggravated assault, battery, possession, assault with a deadly weapon, I could
go on.
JOHNNY
They were all just misunderstandin’s missy.
Besides I was never convicted.
BECKETT
No, but now your girlfriend turns up dead,
how do you think your history is going to look to a jury.
JOHNNY
(Angered)
Ain’t gonna look no way because oi didn’ do
it.
CASTLE
(Snidely)
Then who did Johnny? Or was it just a
misunderstanding like the others?
JOHNNY
Are you deaf or just a moron? I said I didn’t
do it. I was at me mate’s place all night anyway, from 8 last night till your
boys drug me in here.
EXT.
SIDEWALK – MID-DAY
CASTLE and BECKETT are
discussing their thoughts.
CASTLE
I don’t like him but he’s not guilty.
BECKETT
How do you know?
CASTLE
Oh come’on. He’s a punk not a psychopath. If
he did it we’d be able to tell, besides he wouldn’t use poison.
BECKETT
Well, unis are running down his alibi. If
he’s telling the truth we’ll know.
BECKETT’S phone rings. She
answers and speaks briefly with LANIE about her findings.
BECKETT
Alright, thanks Perlmutter.
CASTLE
What did he say?
BECKETT
Our vic was poisoned between two and three,
if Johnny’s alibi holds up, it wasn’t him.
CASTLE
He could’ve done it and she just didn’t drink
it till later.
BECKETT
I thought you didn’t like him for poison or
murder?
CASTLE
I don’t but we have to be thorough.
BECKETT
Anyway, Perlmutter said it was in her coffee
but there were no traces in the cup meaning it was in the coffee before she
poured it, so it couldn’t have been him. The school gave us access to her email
account, apparently there’s an e-mail in there that might shed some light on
the situation.
INT.
INTERROGATION ROOM – AFTERNOON
CASTLE and BECKETT are seated
across the table from NICOLE’s Professor, NANCY LEONARD. BECKETT begins
questioning.
BECKETT
Miss Leonard, our victim was one of your
students, how well did you know her?
NANCY
I guess as well as any of my other students.
It’s a real tragedy, she was such a lovely person.
CASTLE
I guess you call all the people you have
problems with, “lovely.”
BECKETT
Miss Leonard, this is an e-mail you sent to
the victim, with some pretty harsh language. Care to elaborate?
NANCY
I can explain
CASTLE
A problem with the victim and then she turns
up dead? It better be a good explanation.
NANCY
We have exams you need to take before you
graduate. Nicole cheated on them and when I confronted her she threatened to
release some less than flattering information about me. She was blackmailing me
so that I would pass her.
CASTLE
That must have made you pretty mad. You
integrity as a teacher threatened by a student’s illegally obtained blackmail,
it must have torn you up inside.
NANCY
It did, but I didn’t kill her, I swear. She
came to me the other day and apologized. She said she was under too much
pressure and she needed to just be done with it. She handed the blackmail over
to me and said I could do what I wanted with her exam.
BECKETT
And what did you do?
NANCY
I… hadn’t decided yet.
BECKETT
Well I haven’t decided yet whether you’re
innocent or not.
NANCY
You have to believe me, I swear I didn’t; I
had no reason.
BECKETT
Yeah, well that’s not for me to say.
INT.
MURDER BOARD – LATE AFTERNOON
CASTLE and BECKETT are staring
at the murder board. BECKETT is rubbing her chin pondering the evidence while
CASTLE staring at the ceiling deep in thought.
CASTLE
I don’t think Nancy did it. I mean why would
sh?. She had the blackmail handed over, she was in the clear, why kill her.
BECKETT
I don’t know Castle. Since she was alive and
knew the info she was a threat and maybe Nancy just couldn’t live with that
hanging over her head.
CASTLE
Even still, I don’t see her as a murderer.
Angry? Yes. Worried? Yes. Angry and Worried enough to kill? No.
BECKETT
Then who do you think the killer was? She’s
our only lead
CASTLE
She’s our only lead but as a suspect, but
what if we treat the situation as evidence. What if someone else found out
about the scandal…
BECKETT
And was worried what would happen if word got
out that a student cheated on her graduation exams and was blackmailing a
teacher to cover it up.
CASTLE
and BECKETT
(In
unison)
I think I know who the killer is.
INT.
JASON VELENO’S OFFICCE (PR) – DUSK
BECKETT and CASTLE enter
JASON’S office as he is packing his things. He turns and is very surprised to
see them.
JASON
Detective! Made any headway in the case?
BECKETT
I’m very close to my murderer.
JASON
Good, good. Well what can I do for you?
BECKETT
I just have a few questions
Jason nods
BECKETT
You handle PR for the university is that
correct?
JASON
Yes, it is.
BECKETT
And how big of a scandal would it be if a
student was blackmailing a teacher to pass her graduation exam.
JASON
(Nervously)
Well that could discredit the university. It
would be a…
CASTLE
(Cutting
in)
A nightmare, my thoughts exactly. So of
course to stop that from coming out, like all things do, it would be in the
best interest for the school’s PR to keep that from getting out
Jason looks on, silent and
nervous. His hands gently quiver at the implications of BECKETT and CASTLE
JASON
Well surely you don’t think that I…
BECKETT
We searched your car Jason, we found the
poison.
CASTLE
You found out what was going on and worrying
about the PR nightmare you decided to kill Nicole. She was a druggy after all,
everyone would just think she OD’d.
JASON attempts to run but
CASTLE slams the door in his face. BECKETT handcuffs him.
BECKETT
Jason Veleno, you are under arrest for the
murder of Nicole Marie.
INT. PRECINCT – NIGHT
CASTLE and BECKETT are sitting
at her desk. BECKETT is finishing her paperwork.
CASTLE
Well I think it was a job well done today.
BECKETT
Yeah, it’s just a shame. Student under
pressure blackmails a teacher, tries to repent but is killed by a PR guy to
protect the reputation of the school.
CASTLE
Yes well, at least that creep of a PR guy
will be seeing the inside of a jail cell for a long time.
BECKETT
Indeed he will.
CASTLE and BECKETT stand and
walk to the elevator. The camera pans and follows them.
CASTLE
So, back to my place? Dinner and Nebula 9?
BECKETT
Actually I was thinking my place. Dinner and
that Joss Whedon show.
CASTLE
(Excitedly)
Shiny!
END
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